Sheehan’s brothers Patrick and Dennis emigrated to the United States in 1872, eventually settling in Newport, Rhode Island. At some point, together or separately, Bridget Sheehan and her brother Thomas joined them in Newport.

On November 27, 1900, she married John Nixon, also an Irish immigrant, at Saint Mary’s Church in Newport. They had one child: James Joseph (b. 1889).

Sheehan died on October 28, 1910, in Newport. Her husband died on February 10, 1912.